Letter to Martin Luther King from a Group of Clergymen (1963)

On April 12, 1963, while Martin Luther King was in the Birmingham jail because of his desegregation demonstrations, eight prominent Alabama clergymen published the following statement in the local newspapers urging blacks to withdraw their support from Martin Luther King and his demonstrations. Although they were in basic agreement with King that segregation should end. They accused King of being an outsider, of using "extreme measures" that incite "hatred and violence", that King's demonstrations are "unwise and untimely," and that the racial issues should instead be "properly pursued in the courts." Four days later, King wrote his Letter from the Birmingham Jail in reply. \n<br><br>\n<i><u>